THE SCREEN; The Radio City Music Hall Presents Its Christmas Show, 'Bright Eyes,' With Shirley Temple.

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Little Miss Temple now becomes an authentic screen star by passing through the traditional hazing ceremony of being dipped into a bad scenario. "Bright Eyes," which is the Music Hall's Christmas package, finds the astonishingly delightful infant running considerably ahead of her interference. David Butler, who functioned both as author and director of the film, seems to have composed his work with a relentless and grim determination to convince any possible dissenters that Mistress Temple is the cutest little girl on the screen. He argues his point by chasing her through a procession of the old standbys of the hearts-and-flowers drama, including such venerable situations as the breaking of the news of her mama's death, with whimsical verbal embroidery concerning the good lady's life among the angels, and the child's discovery that her guardians think she is just in the way. Shirley romps through all her assignments with such persuasive charm and enkindling naturalness that she succeeds in being refreshing even in her most painfully arranged scenes."Bright Eyes" is at its best when Shirley is delivering her amusing lollipop song to the assembled aviators and at its worst when she is being persecuted by the vicious Smythe family. So anxious has Mr. Butler been in his efforts to create sympathy for the pint-size star that he besmirches the villains of the story until they are unrecognizable as human beings. This unfortunate weakness in the narartive does possess one compensatory factor—it allows a talented little imp named Jane Withers to be the most disagreeable child of the season, and thereby reveals her as that long-awaited phenomenon, a capable distaff edition of the classically unpleasant Jackie Searl.Here Miss Temple is the darling of an aviation field and particularly of one of the fliers, James Dunn, who was the best friend of her late father. Shirley's mother is the long-suffering maid for the Smythes, who are obnoxious as well as rich. The story tells of the mother's death and of the subsequent struggle between Mr. Dunn and the eccentric uncle of the Smythes for the custody of little Shirley, whom they both love and want. In its amiable way the photoplay manages to run the gamut of overemphasis in tears and laughter, including in its repertoire an episode in which Mr. Dunn is forced to bail out of his airplane with Shirley clutched in his arms.Mr. Dunn is able and pleasant in this type of sentimental film and he proves to be an excellent partner for Miss Temple. Charles Sellon plays the grouchy uncle with great humorous skill and Lois Wilson is appropriately wistful as the mother. But despite the heatening presence of America's darling, "Bright Eyes" is not quite what the filmgoer likes to find in his holiday stocking.Leon Leonidoff has arranged a fairy-tale operetta, "The Enchanted Forest," for the Music Hall's stage. It is offered in eight scenes and has an original score by Maurice Baron.

A version of this review appears in print on December 21, 1934 of the National edition with the headline: THE SCREEN; The Radio City Music Hall Presents Its Christmas Show, 'Bright Eyes,' With Shirley Temple. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe